Ka mai
by Bantam
Summary: Based off of Stephen King's Dark Tower series. Eddie suddenly goes todash one night and ends up in a strange yet familiar forest. You'll never guess who he meets. Rated PG-13 for use of Stephen King-like language. :) (now finished)
1. Part I

AN: Hey all, Bantam here! This is my very first fan fic posted here, and the very first fan fic I've written about the Dark Tower. It's been awhile since I've read the first five books, and I'm in the middle of book 7 (my boyfriend stoles it from me and I can't finish it yet! grr) so bear with me if I get things wrong. Don't get too dissapointed if I don't protray the characters right, please, I'm new at this sort of writing. Also, the fic isn't finished as of yet. I want to take my time with it so as to try NOT to dissappoint DT fans too bad. Please read and give me **_constructive_** criticism! BTW, the italic writing at the bottom is directly quoted from The Dark Tower IV, Wizard and Glass pg. 161. If this is not allowed, please let me know.

-Bantam

The chimes, the bells, they echoed all around, never ceasing never stopping as he slept upon the ground ...

Had he been able to, Eddie Dean would've groaned. His thoughts were a jumble as he floated through the realm of todash, and just as he felt he could bear it no longer ... they stopped. The young man stood hesitantly, and shook his head to clear his thoughts. Where was this place?

All around him were trees, trees of a type he'd not seen before. He was in a forest somewhere, that's all the former junkie could discern, yet there seemed to be a familiar ... feeling ... to this place. Rubbing his slightly aching head he began to walk forward, where else was there to go? Birds absently chirped in the tree tops, the wind played a soft melody in the tree branches high above, and all Eddie could think was "Where the fuck am I?".

Last thing he knew he'd been sitting by the fire as the others slept, keeping a steady vigil over his companions till it was his turn to sleep.

"Way to go Eddie Dean, ya fell asleep didn't cha?" He muttered to himself.

A fist swung around to collide with the trunk of the nearest tree as he vented his anger. The sage and eminent junkie was only proving himself right once more. Can't do something as simple as staying awake could ya? _Cute wittle Eddie had to take a nappie, playing wif his wittle wanger just tired him out. Thinking about that nigger bitch when you were given it a pull, weren't ya? _Eddie's eyebrows furrowed together in fury as the voice echoed through his head, and he shoved the heels of his hands hard against his temples as he tried to chase Henry's voice away. Was this why he'd been sent here? To be tormented in private by his dead older brother? A bitter laugh escaped him then, perhaps he still had a monkey on his back, and it wasn't his addiction anymore.

It seemed his brother's taunts had left him, for now, and Eddie took another chance to look at his surroundings. Again there was that feeling of familiarity, like he'd been there before. Of course, logically he knew he'd never been to this damned forest, but it still did not chase away his intuition.  
  
_Love, o love, o careless love,  
Can't you see what careless love has done? _

Eddie snapped around as the sweet notes of the song carried to his ears and his hand whipped to the empty belt at his waist, fingers searching for the gun that wasn't there. His muscles were tense as he crouched, ready to leap out of the way should anything attack.

After a few moments, he shook his head once more. Perhaps it was just his head playing tricks on him? He felt a bit stupid as he stood up, and ran a hand through his tousled, greasy hair. One didn't get many chances to take a shower when chasing after the Dark Tower, no siree can we say thankya.

It was not merely the fact that he was surprised to go todash without warning, but the question of why it had taken him here. Ka. That's what old tall dark and ugly would've said. Ka-ka. A small grin came unbidden at the thought. But still, why here and not some when in New York? Why not to some place where people drank Nozz-o-la and drove Takuro Spirits, some place that was just simply nineteen?

Oh enough of this Eddie, you sound like one ah those dumb broads from the television shows. Why? Why me? For cryin' out loud, yer a gunslinger! Or so you'd like to think. What would Roland do? Heh, it sounded like on of those cheesy bracelets people used to wear, WWJD; What Would Jesus Do? Screw Jesus, WWRD, Roland's the only god he knew now, Roland and his Gan ... and ka.

Up ahead, just then, he caught sight of a flash of white, and the sound of someone humming teased his hearing as Eddie wandered further up the path. His head cried out danger, that it could be a trap, yet Eddie pushed onward. It was his gut that he listened to, and he had a gut feeling that there was something important up ahead. Carefully he placed his feet, trying his best not make a sound on the dry twigs, though he was near positive none could hear or see him even if he were to dance a commala in a tutu before their very eyes.

Nineteen. Nineteen steps and he had been brought to a clearing were a small wooden cabin sat tiredly, as if it was just ready and waiting to go to the clearing at the end of the path, may it do ya fine. Eddie then saw what it was that glinted ivory white in the sparse overhead sunlight. It was the gaping skull of some birdlike creature, seeming to grin wickedly at him as it hung from its perch on a tree branch. Nearby was a horse, content to munch away at the same section of grass, and from within the cabin came the humming.

There was a tingle at the back of his head as he took in what seemed to be a peaceful scene, the tingle alerting him to exactly where ... _when_ he was. He took a deep breath and began walking towards the cabin and the merry tune drifting from within. As he came closer, the horse pulled up its head, its ears laying flat against its skull. Nervously it shifted its weight and looked towards the spot where Eddie stood, now frozen. The steed whickered in fear as it began to back away from Eddie, and at this sound of fright the humming stopped, replaced by a light, teasing voice.

"What is the matter with ya Glue Boy?"

Glue Boy? The horse whinnied rather shrilly as its eyes stayed firmly upon Eddie, or so it seemed. The horse couldn't really see him, could it?

"Fie, ye damned horse!"

Eddie watched the door of the cabin as he heard some steps approach the front door of the cabin.

_"... a dark shape stepped out from behind the tree where it had been keeping. Halfway across the clearing, it resolved itself into a tall, narrow-hipped boy who was barefooted below his jeans and barechested above them. In one hand he held an enormous antique revolver- a kind which was sometimes ..."_


	2. Part II

His mouth dropped open in a small "o" and every bit of realization crashed into him at once. Eddie knew where he was, or even better, Eddie knew _when_ he was. The trees, the "lookout", the cabin, the horse named Glue Boy; it all added up now. Eddie was in Mejis, he was in the place of Roland's spell binding tale, and that barechested young boy approaching the frightened horse was the one and only ... Cuthbert.

The boy that had come alive through Roland's fond words was now standing right before his very eyes, and for once he was speechless. Bert had made his way over to the horse and was patting its neck in attempt to calm it down, meanwhile his eyes kept flickering around looking for whatever had disturbed the equine. His right hand never strayed far from the revolver at his hip, as he wandered away from the horse and began walking in the general direction Glue Boy had been staring at.

Eddie couldn't merely stand by and watch, for it wasn't every day that you got to meet your dinh's boyhood friend from hundreds of years ago. He watched as Bert continued to look at the ground for signs of tracks, and scan the forest for a hint of movement. His face was screwed up in confusion as he came to a stop a mere two feet away from where Eddie stood and it seemed that the boy was looking right at him. Time, messed up as it was, seemed to come to a stop as Eddie stared into those curious eyes and it was small wonder he found himself reflected in them.

With the superstition and curiosity of the very young, Eddie reached a hand towards the young Bert, slow and hesitant. Cuthbert continued to stare deep into the other's eyes, and just as Eddie was about to touch him, Bert suddenly drew back the very arm Eddie had tried to touch, and took several hasty back steps. Bert shook his head as if there was something clouding his thoughts, and confusion rained in those eyes so like Eddie's own.

"Glue Boy, is there something ye can see that I can't? There are strange things in these parts, aye, but I can't quite ..."

_Cuthbert ..._

Eddie concentrated hard on sending this thought towards him, why else had ka taken him here but to meet Roland's friend of old? If there was something more important, Eddie knew naught what, so he would try his best to communicate with the young gunslinger.

It seemed Bert got the message loud and clear, because before he could even finish his sentence the boy yelped and nearly jumped right out of his skin.

"Who's there? Alain? Is that you? Ha ha, funny joke, cut it out!"

It seemed Cuthbert wasn't quite as amused when the joke was on him.

_This isn't Alain, Bert. You don't know me, but I know you. Through Roland._

It took all of Eddie's concentration and effort to send this short sentence to him, and he was a bit surprised that he could communicate to one not of his ka-tet in such manner. Did this have implications he didn't yet understand?

"Y-you know me? Through Roland?" Isn't that what he'd just said? "How? Who are you?" Bert demanded, not quite fearful, but above all else he was filled with immense curiosity.

Bert once more approached the ground where Eddie stood, his left hand feeling cautiously around him.

"What manner of spirit or demon are you?" Bert's right hand rested upon the handle of his revolver.

_Eddie Dean._

An intense head ache began to blossom in Eddie's skull, it seemed like it was taking too much out of him just to communicate to the boy. Bert's eyebrows wrinkled in thought as he mouthed the name he'd heard in is head.

"Eddie Dean ...?"

Something new lit up in Cuthbert's eyes, something strange, and frightening. Once more he stepped back, though his movements now were much more desperate, and as he fell to the ground his mouth opened wide in a silent scream ...-

And the world was spinning before his eyes. The todash bells chimed obnoxiously in Eddie's ears and rang tauntingly in his mind. All at once he felt nauseous and his burning lungs cried desperately for air. We ain't in Kansas anymore Toto.

Before he could see, Eddie could hear. He could hear the agonized screams of men dying around him, the anguished cries of those that had just lost a companion, a friend, a brother. It was a large battle, and a losing one at that. The warriors that he now stood invisibly among were badly out numbered and it seemed that now it was just a matter of time before they all lay dead upon to soiled ground.

"Hile gunslingers! To me!"

Eddie's head whipped around at the sound of that familiar voice, and then he had the second shock of the evening. There stood Roland, years younger on the top of that hill, his eyes with a familiar hard, determined glint. And there was Cuthbert beside him, the two last gunslingers making their final stand. Something powerful moved within him, and he suddenly felt such compassion towards Roland, the sheer determination even with the odds stacked impossibly against him. In wonder Eddie watched as the two boys stood against the world, and in a shot that seemed to rip through his own heart, Cuthbert jerked back and fell violently to the ground. Without pausing for thought Eddie ran to the side of the fallen gunslinger and knelt beside him as he clung to the last threads of life.

_I see now Eddie Dean ... there are other worlds than these ..._

Those words echoed through his head as Bert once more looked into his eyes, and Eddie's own orbs opened wide, for Cuthbert saw him this time, of that he was certain. Once more the world began to shimmer before him and the mournful sound of Roland's horn became softer, and whether or not it was a trick of todash, or his own wild imagination, the now lifeless body upon the ground was not Cuthbert ... but Eddie.

Gasping for air Eddie bolted upright, his chest heaving and cold sweat dripping down his skin and causing his clothes to stick to him uncomfortably. Wildly his eyes darted about him until finally his breathing began to slow as he recognized where he was. Everyone else was still sound asleep, Oy contentedly curled beside Jake, and Suze snoring softly in her own bedroll. And Roland. All he could make out of that form was the shadowed outline of his reclined body, and slowly it sat up.

"Ready for some rest, Eddie?" Came the gruff voice of the gunslinger.

Eddie nodded slightly and gave up his spot to the now approaching Roland, and sprawled out beside his wife, closing his eyes once more. Perhaps now he'd get some real sleep, though his recent experience would prove difficult for him to get sleep for many nights.

Roland merely sat beside the glowing embers, bombardier eyes staring far away, across distance and time, finally coming to rest upon the fitfully sleeping form of Eddie.

"Good night my ka-mai, dearest Cuthbert."


End file.
